discoloration

[psitracy]

New member here.

Purchased a 2003 Montana 2980RL in Sept of 2013. We are prepping the unit for the spring season. In the process of repacking the wheel bearings and inspecting the brakes I ran across a dilemma:

I am finding discoloration on the inner cone of the bearings and the underside of the spindles. I would normally suspect excessive heat/bearing spinning on the spindle, However, there is no wear marks or lips on the spindles and the rollers on the bearings are bright, shiny, and flawless. All bearings had plenty of grease (probably too much IMO). I am stumped

Has anyone else run across this or something similar ?

In the end I repacked all the bearings, replaced the seals and cotter pins, reinstalled all components and re adjusted the brakes. I am confident in my mechanical work. However, I cant help thinking I might be missing something. I don't want problems on the road. Any suggestions ?

[bethandkevin]

It sounds like due to wear and or possible under-torqueing the wheel bearings were slightly loose causing uneven load on the bearing itself. Good catch!

[Irlpguy]

I had a similar problem and Dexter replaced my entire axle assy. Here is a picture of the spindle on one of the damaged axles: The difference in mine was the damage was at the top of the spindle, not the bottom as one would expect.

There was no apparent damage to either the inner or outer bearing or their respective races. It was almost as if a damaged spindle was rotated 90 degrees and welded into a new axle.



Here is a picture of the brand new axle, you can clearly see that the axle is of poor quality and poorly machined at the outer bearing race area.

]

There was in my opinion insufficient grease in the hub on the original axles from the factory. There is the possibility that the spindle nut was too tight causing the race to turn rather than the bearing, who knows I just hope the new ones don't do the same thing.

[psitracy]

IRL, thank you so much for your reply, I think the next stop for me is the RV dealers service department to have these things inspected as they are under warranty. We are disappointed we cant hit the road sooner, but at least we can do it safely.

[Fire5er]

Irplguy thanks for the great pictures. Pictures really tell the story. Now I know what to watch out for.

[h2ojocky]

Thanks to Irlpguy for the photos.

[psitracy]

Ok took the 5er into the shop, they inspected the bearings and spindles, said they were fine, re-packed the bearings replaced the seals, and gave it a green light for our first trip of the year. They said it looked as if there was water/moisture in the area at one time or another. Thanks to everyone for the input and advice